ALAN Mannus is eager to make up for lost time, writes Gordon Bannerman.

The St Johnstone keeper – pictured right – who has been recalled to the Northern Ireland squad for tomorrow’s Windsor Park clash with Norway, steered Shamrock Rovers into Europe last year and he’d love to emulate that success in Perth.

Mannus had to wait six-months to oust Peter Enckelman and after three games on the spin he plans to retain his grip on the number one jersey.

He’s likely to shadow Nottingham Forest keeper Lee Camp in Belfast but admits the bench was getting uncomfortable at McDiarmid.

“I’ve been very patient to get my chance. Now I want to stay in the team. I don’t want to go back to sitting on the bench. I was fed-up playing bounce games. That’s not what I came over from Ireland for last summer,” he said.

“But the only way I’m going to keep the jersey is if I deserve to stay in the team.”

Manager Steve Lomas indicated Mannus took a pay cut to come to Perth.

The goalie admitted: “It was never about money coming here. Football has never been about money to me. It was about getting an opportunity to see what I could do over here.

“A lot of people from Northern Ireland come over to Scotland or England when they are 16 or 17 but I didn’t do that.

“I went to school and on to university instead to do electrical engineering. I was playing part-time football at Linfield until I went to Shamrock Rovers.

“It’s taken me 15 years to get to where I wanted. I was saying to our goalkeeping coach Alan Combe a few months ago I’m probably the oldest person ever to go into full-time football in Scotland, being 29 when I came over here. He laughed and said it didn’t count until I played! Hopefully it counts now.

“I hope to play until I’m 40. A lot of keepers do that and I look after myself. So I hope to do that if I can steer clear of bad injuries.

“If I’m playing first team football here it should help my chances with Northern Ireland. At least I can put a bit of pressure on Lee Camp. He is playing in the Championship every week and he’s highly thought of. He will probably be number one, no matter what.

“But playing here can make a massive difference to my own chances. If I’m not playing I can’t really mount a case for being involved.”

Mannus said Finnish international Enckelman had been supportive since his arrival back in July.

“People are different and so are goalkeepers. Some can be a bit unfriendly with each other because they are competing for one place. But I’ve never felt like that.

“We don’t make the decisions. It’s the manager who does that. Peter and I have friendly rivalry and we have been wishing each other all the best. We are both trying to get into the team but we help each other when we can.

“The games I played in Europe with Linfield and Shamrock are some of the best memories I have in football. You get to travel and play in different countries against different type of opposition.

“I have been very lucky and really enjoyed the European experiences. So it would nice to sample it with St Johnstone as well.”

ASSISTANT Tommy Wright is off to Northern Ireland for the Norway game, after assuming the post as goalkeeping coach. Striker Marcus Haber is away to Cyprus to hook-up with the Canada squad.

THE St Johnstone game against Celtic on Sunday, April 1 will be shown live on Sky at 12.45pm.